Last week, when my guide and I stopped for lunch in Be’er Sheva, a group of Bedouin young men came in to order coffee.

Something went wrong with the order, and within seconds, both the Bedouin who wanted his coffee done a different way and the Jewish young man who had prepared the cup in dispute were yelling at one another.

This wasn’t a mild disagreement. It really got heated in a hurry. From the volume, hand-gestures and tension in the room, world peace apparently depended upon this one particular cup of coffee being prepared a slightly different way.

Friends of the Bedouin young man held him back as if they were either (1) in middle school or (2) practicing for a career in pro wrestling. The guy on the other side of the counter was likewise being restrained by his co-workers. The wide counter between them served as a comfort to both combatants that neither would ever have to do any real combating.

No one in the room, including me, ever felt in danger.

“It’s all about honor,” said my tour guide. “Neither one of them can allow their honor to be questioned.”

By the end of the week, Iran was sending hundreds of projectiles toward Israel, defending its own honor against Israel’s brazen killing of seven of its top military leaders on April 1. Though it never claimed credit, Israel apparently bombed a building next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus, which is, technically, an attack on Iran. One of the seven killed was a top Iranian general.

From that moment on, the entire Middle East knew Iran would retaliate.

After all, it’s always about the coffee. Or honor, if you prefer that word.

On Saturday night, April 13, the drones and missiles started coming in droves. The drones came from Lebanon, most of them flying at the speed of a single-engine aircraft. In other words, they were easy targets to shoot down. More serious weapons came from Yemen, over Jordanian airspace and from Syria. But every army in the neighborhood was waiting on high alert. Iran wasn’t really trying to start a war. It was defending its honor.

Jordanian forces shot down many of the missiles over its own territory. Saudi Arabia admitted today that it helped with the fight, too. The US Air Force and forces from the UK joined the Israeli Air Force in destroying incoming fire. On the ground, IDF forces used multiple methods of keeping the missiles from reaching those of us who were sleeping.

And that’s where I come into the story. Admittedly, it’s not much of a part in the play. My main task was to fall asleep on Saturday night.

I was spending my last night in Jerusalem after a very nice week of touring, filming and learning. I was awakened around 1 a.m. by several loud explosions. An air raid siren made sure I was wide awake and appropriately frightened.

Ironically, when the air raid noise ceased, so did the explosions. Whatever had happened, it was over about the same time I became fully aware we were under attack.

But at the time, we did not know it was over.

The news was frightening, to put it mildly. My phone lit up with text messages. My wife wanted to know what was going on, and I tried to tell her what was happening as gently as I could. Having no experience in being under fire, I wasn’t sure of the best approach. It helped that all the noise stopped by the time we talked.

Most of the rest of the night was spent praying, following the news and being sure I was ready to leave the next morning. I already had a flight scheduled, and the airline app kept insisting that the flight was on time.

I left my rented condo at 5:45 a.m. The streets were empty. It felt eerie, like bad weather was coming. I had to walk a few blocks to the light-rail train, where I saw maybe three other people. No one was speaking to anyone else. Jerusalem was not coming to life. A few police vehicles barreled past at a high rate of speed. Other than that, it was as if 1 million people had disappeared.

The central train station was nearly empty, too. There were only two other people in the car I boarded. In the car behind us, a few Orthodox men went through their morning prayers and sang a song together. I have no idea what they sang, but it felt good to hear them sing.

The train needed 20 minutes to get to Ben-Gurion Airport. All along the way, there were no signs of panic, war or the usual traffic. At the airport, the usual throng was missing. Walking into the huge reception area, I had the place to myself.

I assumed my flight would be canceled. Israeli air space was closed. Airline counter after airline counter was dark. No one waited for customers and there were no customers waiting on boarding passes.

And yet I prayed for one flight to actually leave on that Sunday morning. By that point, I didn’t care how the international situation played out. I just wanted to go home.

In the distance, at the far end of the terminal, hundreds of people were standing in different lines. I’d guess that 2,000 people were there, all of them hoping to catch flights headed east. No one in Israel would be flying west that day.

What’s impressive about Israelis was best seen in the demeanor of every worker I saw. There was no panic. There was no hint that anything was out of the ordinary on that extraordinary morning. The young man who tagged my luggage smiled, shrugged and said, “I guess we’re used to it.”

The security screening was the most thorough I’d ever experienced in Israel. But as it turns out, I was randomly chosen for a little extra attention. They scanned me, patted me down, tested every single item in my carry-on bags for explosives and finally X-rayed me. A few feet away, I spotted two women in their 80s who were also – apparently – potential terrorists.

I didn’t care. All I wanted was to get home.

In time, we boarded the plane. After a short delay, we took off and made a beeline toward the Mediterranean. When it became apparent that we weren’t going to be dropped out of the sky by a heat-seeking missile like you see in the movies, I started to relax. Ten hours later we were in New York, and a few exhausting hours later, I was home.

In the meantime, I’d been overwhelmed with people assuring me they were praying for me and my family. What a blessing to have so many friends praying for you at such an hour! Whether or not the flight out of Israel was an answer to prayer, the peace I felt through the day was definitely a gift from God. If you’re going to be attacked, try to do so on Sunday. It helps, I think.

As for what happens next in Israel, here’s my guess.

Iran is claiming a victory because it unleashed a direct attack against Israel for the very first time. It has protected its honor.

Israel, on the other hand, can boast that it deflected every projectile. History will say this was a win for Israel. It killed Iranian military leaders and defended its borders. If Israel’s political leaders sense that its national honor has been defended by such an action, things could calm down quickly.

After all, it’s still all about the coffee. Somehow, everyone needs to leave the situation with his honor intact. Let’s pray everyone feels good about himself today. If they keep shouting and shooting, it’ll only get worse.

In the meantime, the world needs to take a more direct approach in stopping this season of insanity.

For starters, Egypt needs to stop charging extortion fees to Gazans trying to escape the Gaza Strip. If a family wants to leave the Gaza Strip, its only option is to leave through Egypt. But it’ll cost them $5,000-$10,000 per adult, and $2,500-$5,000 per child. All of this is under-the-table money that’s being collected out in the open. Gazans have to have an “agent,” and the agent collects the fees. Who gets the fees is unclear. But Imagine it. Devastated by war, facing hunger, with no home … and fellow Muslims are extorting money from people who have nothing? No wonder so few can escape!

This is a story barely covered in the media, but it’s true. Google it, and you’ll find it. I talked to two men involved with bringing aid to the Palestinians who first told me of it. If the UN wants to do something constructive for the people of Gaza, they could start here. Egypt needs to be placed under the same white-hot spotlight as Israel in this mess. Our President and other leaders need to speak up and embarrass Egypt. If the international media focused on the story, such abuse would stop.

Second, Hamas needs to be completely defeated. This terrorist organization operates only by violence and has promised more violence. If they could, they would attack anyone in the West, including you. The things done on October 7 cannot be ignored. The way Hamas has sacrificed its own people is among the most shocking things ever done in history. The more I learn about the situation, the more I’m determined to stand with Israel on this matter. Israel doesn’t do everything right, and war is messy. But Hamas has started five wars with Israel since 2005, and it’s time to give them what they’ve wanted. It is, as Solomon once said, “a time for war.”

Finally, Iran needs to know that a coalition of Western allies, including Americans, will most definitely act with military force if necessary. America should have never taken forced compliance off the table, as our President did barely 12 hours after Sunday morning’s attack. Weakness in the Middle East emboldens terrorists and their sponsors. Have we not yet learned that lesson?

Unfortunately, it’s an election year in America. Israel is also ready for new elections. On both sides of the ocean, politicians are making too many decisions based solely on trying to stay in power. This, too, is about personal honor. And when people start yelling and pointing fingers across the coffee counter of life, it’s hard to make the right decisions.

How I wish someone, somewhere, would simply make a really good cup of coffee.

Perhaps then we could sit around a nice international café and enjoy a season of peace.